2005 preview Today was a day of exciting developments in my world. Here's the scoop:

Since I have to take six courses next semester in order to finish my degree, my tuition costs will be higher, and the loan money I'm getting isn't quite going to cover my living expenses. I knew I would need to find alternative sources of funding at some point, and I'd discussed with various family members the possibility of co-signing for a student line of credit for me. As a non-income-earning full-time student, I apparently have a net worth of approximately negative sixteen thousand dollars and change. How life-affirming, huh?

Since frou is in the best financial position of the family at this time (other than my step-father, but he's not blood, so he doesn't count...?), she agreed that it made sense for her to co-sign.

So we went to the bank today and met with Jo-Ann, who was training a younger employee to handle these types of situations, apparently. I like my bank for the most part, but everytime I have to actually meet with someone, I'm quite amazed at the level of incompetence I see. It's like these people have never used their own software before, and this is the Royal Bank...! Sheesh.

Anyway, we spent close to an hour giving them all my information, then frou giving them all her information, signing some documents. Talk about your intensely slow-paced information gathering. Jo-Ann called later in the afternoon to tell me that my application had been approved (thanks, frou!). I now have an additional $5,000 at my disposal for the semester, should I find that I am in need of it. It is my goal to use that as little as possible (a girl doesn't need eight different sources of debt re-payment looming upon going back to real life), but I'll have a better idea how my budget looks after I get back to school, finalize my class selections and purchase several over-priced textbooks.

It's not super-thrilling, but I'm able to relax a little now that I know I'll have enough money.

On the other hand, THIS is super-thrilling news:

I'm going to Prague!

It's true! Pammy P. and I had been talking about taking a trip to Europe on my spring break, and since she's a travel agent and can scope out the good deals and get coupons and stuff from tour companies and airlines (I think those are some of her perks anyway...), we decided Prague would work. She booked our tickets today. We're SO excited. Pammy lived in Budapest for a while and she's really missing Europe, and, well, I've never been anywhere outside North America, so this is a fabulous opportunity to experience a little more of this big world. Thanks, Pammy!

Cool, eh?  | ¶ 9:35 p.m.

  fa-la-la-la-la la la-la-la A few days before Christmas I went over to frou's house to help her wrap presents. Frou's the big money-maker in our family so she's pretty generous with the presents at Christmas time. There was a good amount of wrapping to do, what with the giant Dora doll for Ella, hockey equipment for Kyle, make-up and dress-up stuff for Caia, Lord of the Rings trilogy (twelve discs!) for Mom and Dalt, heatable pain-relieving bean-bag thing for Gina, clothes for me(!), socks and frying pan for Kris, beauty products for Tannis.

As we were wrapping, frou realized that she didn't have any name tags to put on the gifts. Since they seemed to be reasonably easy to identify, I told her I'd just label them when I brought them back to Mom's place. She tried using a colour-coded bow system (white for Gina, etc.) but I didn't really pay attention. I brought the gifts home, confidently labelled the gifts for their intended recipients and placed them under the tree.

On Christmas morning as we were unwrapping presents, I handed Gina her bean-bag box to open, which she unwrapped only to find that it was actually a pair of dress-up shoes and tiara intended for Caia, who is 5. I felt like a bit of a dumbass, so I hastily dug around under the tree for the box labelled for Caia, thinking IT must contain Gina's present. So she opened present number two, to discover a delightful Lord of the Rings 12-disc trilogy, which was intended for Mom and Dalton. Well, now I felt like an even bigger moron, and again searched frantically for Gina's real present, which I found and she opened on the third attempt.

I have been relieved of wrapping and labelling duties. Doh!  | ¶ 1:26 p.m.

  we're twins, don't you know dazza razza says:
I ate cheesies
christmas cupcake says:
i had scrambled eggs and peppers and cheese
christmas cupcake says:
but now I do not feel good
dazza razza says:
I had alot of those cheesies
christmas cupcake says:
mebbe it's those cheesies makin' me feel bad
dazza razza says:
yep
dazza razza says:
they're salty  | ¶ 9:26 p.m.

  I miss my cat   | ¶ 11:29 p.m.

  Christmas report Christmas has really been nice here at the Ryan/Jensen residence. We typically manage to gather a sizable group, since there are many of us. This year, four of the five Ryan children are in Calgary: Kris, Keri, frou and me. Keri and his wife Gina have three young children and the kids really make Christmas morning fun for everyone with their excitement and delight at their new treasures.

After our standard BIG Christmas morning breakfast and present-opening, we played some family games: Scene it - a fun DVD movie trivia game, then some good old Cranium. Keri and Gina were heading off to her sister's for turkey dinner, so the rest of us watched frou's new DVD copy of Chicago. Some of us napped. The next turkey dinner is tomorrow after church. There is a lot of good eating going on.

I got some excellent presents: new boots, yoga pants, socks, some shirts, a rug, some mittens, a shovel, CDs, magazines, candle, bath products. Not too shabby!  | ¶ 12:02 a.m.

  Merry Christmas!  | ¶ 1:09 p.m.

  The verdict, part four (Sorry if this is getting monotonous or something... just one more mark after this one.)

This is another class I was pretty stressed about, since I didn't have a sense of how many marks I had going into the final exam, and when I got to the final, my program didn't do what it was supposed to. But Dimitri awards marks based on perceived effort and demonstrated progress. So in my computer class ("Introduction to Computer Science"), I got a 70%. I'm very pleased with that.

Yay!  | ¶ 2:13 p.m.

  The verdict, part three In the History of Psychology, I got 68% as my final mark. Even though it's lower than my others, I'm pleased with it. That class was extremely boring and quite confusing to understand what we needed to know. I didn't really know how to prepare for the final exam and I knew my final paper was lacking in a real strong argument. Thank goodness I write pretty well, so even when I don't know what I'm talking about, my efforts to sound knowledgeable are not completely fruitless.   | ¶ 11:48 a.m.

  The verdict, part two They posted one more of my final marks. This time, Perception.

On my third attempt to pass this course (silly, silly me), I have achieved a final grade of 73%. Phshew! This was one of those exams that I walked away from feeling like I'd done fairly shitty, so this is a welcome result. Yay me.  | ¶ 1:45 p.m.

  the carefree life I think I have done more socializing in the past 48 hours than I have in months! Man it's nice to see old friends and familiar faces, though.

I spent last evening with Pammy and Tone-L again. Pammy and I battled through a game of Trivial Pursuit, 90s edition (fun). I answered the following winning question correctly: After working on which musical for seven years did Mr. xx (I forget his name) die the week before it opened on Broadway in 1997? I totally lucked out with my guess. Do you know the answer?

Today I decided to stop by my old workplace at Heenan Blaikie. Much to my dismay, the first face I saw as I stepped off the elevator was that of my old boss, Floyd himself. I still detest that man for the disrespect I endured working for him. Bleh.

Anyway, it was still a very nice visit. I made the rounds and said hello to several people, and stopped to chat with my buddy Mark for a while. We like Mark. He is one of those non-asshole lawyers...and you know, I'm not sure how many of them are still out there..! [Legal Disclaimer: the above does not represent the opinion of anyone except the writer; I am sure YOU are a lovely person.]

Then I was off to frou's workplace. Frou and I kinda get a kick out of playing the twin game with co-workers. In this case that means that I get introduced to a lot of people, and they tell us how much we look alike. It's a little silly, but we have fun with it. Then we went out for lunch to Aida (is that right, frou?), a Lebanese restaurant in Mission. It was pretty good. Except for the onions. We do not love the onions.

Now I'm enjoying some downtime before I babysit for the kids tonight so Keri and Gina can get some shopping done. Caia and I are planning to make carrot muffins.  | ¶ 2:35 p.m.

  The verdict, part one I got one of my marks back. Man, it's nerve-wracking, checking the school site and crossing my fingers...

Ready?

In my testing class, formally known as Psychometrics, which, as you may recall, is the class I was worried about doing well in (maybe worrying is good), my final mark is 70%. I'm totally pleased with that. Yahoo!  | ¶ 1:10 p.m.

  a trip story, with turbulence and everything "Folks, this is the captain speaking. Looks like it's going to be pretty rough on the way down, and likely rougher when we get closer to the ground."

Buckle up, eh. I have to admit, I was a little scared for a certain portion of the flight. There was some swearing. Of course, they had already collected headsets and shut down the TV service, and for whatever reason the use of discmans is prohibited (do they interfere with the plane's navigational systems...? I don't see it.). But I was determined to do something to distract myself from the fear of death, so I grabbed the in-flight magazine and my discman (shh!) and cranked up some relaxing Chris Botti. I'm glad I was next to the window, too, 'cause it helped to look down at the ground and know that we weren't plunging toward it or anything. Sheesh.

It was a long day of travelling yesterday. I awoke before 6 and got up to finish my packing and organizing. Scott picked me up around 9-ish, we hit club McDo, then headed to Sherbrooke for the 10:00 bus to Montreal. The bus ride was relaxing and uneventful. I arrived in Montreal with perfect timing for the bus to the airport, then found myself with several hours to kill before my flight. I ate at Burger King, browsed the shops, called frou (collect!), and read Vanity Fair.

The flight was long and, well, you've read about the turbulence. The nice thing was that this plane was equipped with personal television screens for everyone, so I watched a bunch of shows... Law & Order, Cold Case, something about Divas on MuchMoreMusic... When the turbulence hit and they shut down the entertainment, I was right in the middle of Desperate Housewives, so I didn't get to see the ending... GRR.

My friends Pammy and Tone-L met me in Calgary as planned and we headed to the Northstone Pub for beers and a meal. Frou came out to join us too. I was starting to feel pretty fatigued by this time, so we didn't stay long, and headed over to their new house so we could have some wine and so I could meet their adorable new puppies. Baby animals are just the cutest. I'm not really a dog person, but I like puppies, so Guinness and Murphy are alright. They licked me and sniffed me and I think we're friends now.

We chatted and got caught up for a while, but they had to work today and I was pretty beat, so we didn't stay up too late. I had an excellent sleep in their guest room on a super-comfy double (or queen?)-sized bed. Ahhh....

Today I'm over at my mother's place relaxing and spending some time with Gina and the kids. It's nice to have nothing I need to do.  | ¶ 12:35 p.m.

  You made it thru Ontario... But your plane appears to be headed North now cupcake. Turn back West, there's nothing up there!

Remaining Flight Time: 1:53

  | ¶ 8:07 p.m.

  yip yip yippee I'm coming home...!

Home, to the land of much busy-ness and shiny-ness, where the people move quickly, speak English and charge no provincial sales tax. Where the margarine is yellow, the cheddar cheese is orange, the land is flat, the seasons unidentifiable, my friends await, and where my family will congregate for Christmas.

Also, where I am homeless and dependent on charity. Car-less, bed-less, money-less. Heh.
I'll be home for Christmas, don't you know...  | ¶ 7:59 a.m.

  it's no fun being catless Today we took Salsa to her temporary home at Scott's place in North Hatley. I stayed with her for a little bit to make sure she was settling in alright; I think that Scott and Tom will take good care of her. My place is a little lonely now, though.

I have been completely devoid of energy the past couple days. Maybe it's that I reached the end of this leg of the journey and I can finally relax, or maybe it's that sickness that's been making the rounds that I'm finally succumbing to, but I just feel physically and mentally exhausted.

Today I've been trying to use up the last of my perishable food, do some laundry and dishes, and just get generally organized to be away for the next two and a half weeks. I'm a terrible packer, I think, so I'll likely have several over-stuffed bags to lug home with me. I also watched Sweet November.

And that is as exciting as it gets here today... I'm travelling all day tomorrow - see ya in Cowtown.
  | ¶ 6:15 p.m.

  EXAMS! Day five. Today: Intro to European Politics. I'm reviewing stuff like the nine main party families (no, not families who party...), which are, on the right: the Christian Democrats, the Conservatives, the Liberals, the Agrarian parties, and the Far Right. On the left we've got the Social Democrats, the Communists, the New Left and the Post-Modern parties. Par-tay.

I will be drinking wine tonight. And packing. Oh, and maybe napping. Tired student need sleep...  | ¶ 7:18 a.m.

  Razza-Dazza! Today is my last crunch day of the semester. And by crunch, I mean, I'll be working my ass off today, finishing my History paper and preparing for tomorrow morning's politics exam.

I've really been struggling with getting the paper done, because, well, it's about one of Plato's dialogues, and it's dry and wandering (I can't seem to pin down a basic argument). What I'm going to end up doing is giving a summary of what Plato seems to be saying in the Meno (about the theory of recollection and the ability to acquire virtue through learning, blah blah...), and hope that it looks like I've constructed a thesis of some kind in the paper. Blah. I heard back from my prof that he'll still accept it late (yeah, I'm a slacker on this one) but deduct some marks. W/e. As long as I pass...(not so high standards when you're just trying to get stuff done...)

And I'll be reading a LOT of politics today. Europe: party families, party systems, electoral systems, etc. It won't be terrible, but I've got a lot of material to cover, so I'll be sitting on my floor just over there [she points to floor] reading, reading, reading...

Oh, and Calgary? Get ready, 'cause I'm arriving on Sunday. Woot!  | ¶ 9:57 a.m.

  psst There was a girl painting her nails Sunkissed Pink in J9 this morning. That girl was me.  | ¶ 1:56 p.m.

  silly people Today Scott and I were discussing what I should do once I graduate. Since I have developed a new interest in politics lately, we talked about me becoming a diplomat (whatever that means...!). And then this exchange occurred:

Scott says:
next, I'm going to have to research what country you should be a diplomat to.
cupcake says:
mebbe Sweden. They have cute boys there.
Scott says:
lol
cupcake says:
and I know how to say "mina fotter ere oma"
cupcake says:
I'm IN.
Scott says:
yeah...except you just looked that up didn't you?
cupcake says:
nope. I have it memorized. I use it, like, ALL the time...  | ¶ 7:13 p.m.

  you still have grace, and mercy (from Grace, one of my favourite Chantal Kreviazuk songs)

One of the questions on my Testing final yesterday was to describe the method and results of a study by Bridgeman on examiner feedback. I read this paper pretty closely, so I'm fairly familiar with the method they used (the results baffle me a bit so I haven't absorbed them quite as well). What they did was test grade school kids on some random measure, in which the kids were told that it might not correspond to the grades they usually received in school, since it was un-related to their education thus far. They were given ample time to complete it so each child could feasibly believe they had done well on the test.

Two days later they re-tested the children. But when the kids opened their booklets to repeat the questionnaire, they were given some feedback. Regardless of their actual performance, some were told they had performed in the upper percentiles, with value judgments like "good work!" provided as well. Some were told they had performed well below average, with the word poor inserted somewhere. Some were told their tests had not been marked yet.

Now, the point of the second testing was to see if the feedback had any effect on their performance on the test as compared with their initial results. And you know, there was some effect on some groups, but I'm not going to get into that here.

McKelvie had included the following instruction in the question: "Include a personal comment about the study." Well, I thought that line was a little ambiguous, and I suppose I could have just asked him, but this was the LAST question I was completing on the exam, and I'd been sitting there for over two hours already and just wanted to GET OUT. So my personal comment was this:

What I'm wondering is how these children were de-briefed, because it doesn't address that in the paper, and well, it seems kinda mean to lie to children, especially with negative remarks. I just hope they all got to go out and play in the snow afterwards.

I wonder if I'll get any marks for that.  | ¶ 9:53 a.m.

  exhausted student tales, chapter 22,562 I'm so sleepy. It's been a l-o-n-g day in here L'ville. It went like this: up early, study a bit, back to sleep for a bit, up again, study more, make myself presentable, power-walk to school, write long exam, chat with Scott, then get stunned by the news from Sweden. This afternoon was slightly more relaxing - had a nice long overseas call with CP and he sounds good considering the circumstances. Later, some tired chat:

CP: According to the Cyborg Name Generator, you are STACEY: Synthetic Transforming Android Calibrated for Exploration and Yelling.
cupcake: that's hilarious
cupcake: calibrated for exploration and yelling!
cupcake: I like it
cupcake: (I'm not sure what I'd be yelling...)

I'm going to bed.  | ¶ 8:58 p.m.

  Report Okay, so I'll start with the good.

My exam went well, kinda. I even used a second exam booklet, which means I did a heck of a lot of writing. I managed pretty well on the definitions and on the short-answer questions, but I think I did not answer the essay questions quite as well, and, well, you gotta know that those are worth the most. All-in-all I feel pretty good about my performance, though.

The second good news is that Maggie and I got our project back and we got 80%. That's totally respectable in my book (although I think she would have liked to have done a bit better), and means that my final mark in that class will also be respectable. Yay me. One more exam to go...

And in news of the truly terrible, CP has arrived home to Sweden to grieve the recent passing of his father only to discover that his younger brother decided to end his own life the night before CP arrived. We, his friends, feel absolutely helpless at this point and cannot fathom what that poor family is going through. I wish I could be there for him.  | ¶ 12:51 p.m.

  EXAMS! Day four. So I set my alarm for 4:00 and here I am, awake to study. I feel surprisingly okay about getting up at this stupid hour. Now I resume my delightful review of the ins and outs of Psychological Testing...

In weird news, it seems that I sat for so long yesterday that I bruised my tailbone...(?) It, umm, hurts to sit. Strange, man.  | ¶ 4:13 a.m.

  EXAMS! Day OFF. I have been studying ALL DAY, but I haven't made tremendous progress. Wanna know why?

It's because I don't care about construct validity, people. And, I have to admit, the multitrait multimethod matrix bores me. I dunno why.

This exam will be difficult. But I have a bazillion notes from the readings and from lectures, so I will proceed to read and read and read until I know it all. I do not plan to sleep very much tonight (exam's at 9:00 AM tomorrow).

I have not left my shack today. Hell, I've barely left the room (since this apartment consists primarily of this room only, I suppose that's not too surprising).

In weather news, we've got close to a foot of snow here now. And you know what they do in Quebec...? They plow! Like, all the time! First they plow the roads. Then they plow the sidewalks. Then another tractor-thingy comes by and plows the part between the road and the sidewalk where the plow left its piles. Then, a nice gentleman shovels your sidewalk. Another dude comes by in his truck to do your driveway. The first time it happened, I just heard this ruckus outside (louder than the trains even), and I was all what the..? So I looked out and was reminded how they do things down here.

Nifty.  | ¶ 7:20 p.m.

  Exams are, like, HARD, man... Ugh. I have now written three exams and walked away feeling very unsure and discouraged about my performance. Finally, though, I do not have one TOMORROW. So I have more than 24 hours to prepare for Testing, which I expect to be very difficult.  | ¶ 4:29 p.m.

  EXAMS! Day three. Today is the History of Psychology. I'm busy finishing reading the Phaedo (Plato) before I review my class notes and my readings. This a tough exam to study for since the wonderful Dr. Stout enjoys having "bewildered" students and wasn't particularly clear on how we should prepare, and because we haven't had any midterms to use as a guide. This exam is cumulative, and is worth 45% of our mark. Yeowch.  | ¶ 11:10 a.m.

  bon voyage, sweet CP CP is leaving for Sweden today - right smack in the middle of my stressful exam week so I haven't even been able to spend the proper amount of time with him this week.

Scott and I are seeing him off at the bus station this morning and then I won't see him for 4-ish weeks. Sucky.
  | ¶ 6:43 a.m.

  I *knew* he liked me... I'm SO delighted right now. I just picked up my politics paper from Bill and I got:

85!

I casually perused all the other papers in the box outside his office and did not see a single mark higher than mine. His evaluation paper contains words like "Excellent" and "Very well done" to describe my logic and analysis. Yee-haw is all I have to say. There I was hoping just to squeak by with a 70...(!)

Did I mention how I've hardly done any preparation for Perception..? Maybe I'm feeling a little too confident. Less than four hours to go...Eep.  | ¶ 10:31 a.m.

  EXAMS! Day two. I couldn't sleep last night. Kept waking up with bad dreams and pounding heart - stupid anxiety dreams... I suppose it's just as well this morning since I am only just beginning to tackle the material for my Perception exam that I'll write in EIGHT HOURS. The good thing about this class is that I'm going into this final having already attained approximately 47 out of 60 possible marks up to now. That means that technically I need very few marks to pass the class, although passing the final exam is usually a requirement, and ideally I would like to do well and get this mark to be as high as possible.

So I just gotta review the visual system the the processing of visual stimuli, and then learn all about sound perception and a little bit about the cutaneous and chemical senses. Yee-haw.  | ¶ 5:50 a.m.

  It's just a little discouraging when you've worked so hard to learn stuff, that when you get to the exam, you get bogged down in how terribly complicated it is and don't actually manage to create something anywhere near as meaningful and functional as yesterday, or even this morning. Sad me...  | ¶ 8:12 p.m.

  On behalf of cupcake supporters - Good luck on your exam!
We're all sending you the good vibes of clear thinking.
Right NOW people!  | ¶ 1:57 p.m.

  EXAMS! Day one. It is 7:55 AM. My computer exam is at 2:00 this afternoon. I will be doing my final crash course session with Scott this morning, desperately praying that:

(a) I manage to achieve comprehension on the most critical topics I need;
(b) My brain doesn't freeze up after such a long java-session;
(c) The exam is not too challenging;
(d) If the exam IS challenging, I still pass (and, you know, don't freak out).

Let me tell you quickly about what I've been learning the past few days. It's a lot of graphics stuff. Here is my masterpiece from yesterday:

So basically I have to tell Java that I want to add all of these items to my "JFrame", and then I have to customize them (i.e. which numbers do I want on my slider, what is the button called, etc.). That is obviously not a live sample, but in the actual program, when you click the button, the program reads the number from the slider (which also works) and then randomly distributes coloured circles on my grid, based on a formula that I also had to create for it.

That one hurt my head; it's a lot of components to manage. The coloured-dot grid is actually an array which required a double For loop to "iterate" over each spot to assign the random placements of colour. Ouch.   | ¶ 7:55 a.m.

  how many kisses? Recently I discovered the jazz trumpet player Chris Botti (he was on Oprah), and yesterday downloaded a few of his songs. I have totally fallen in love with one called a thousand kisses deep. I love jazz, so I'm always on the lookout for great new artists to add to my collection. This guy is perfect as background study music or to set the mood for a relaxing evening. Try it!  | ¶ 10:34 p.m.

  you know you're a student when... You wake up at some ungodly hour and think it's a good idea to get up and start studying. [Today: 5:23 AM] I must be stressed...!  | ¶ 5:55 a.m.

  breakdown So I'm an idiot. After my midterm in computer class, I basically stopped going to the labs (since it's so hard to learn in that environment anyway) and maybe haven't been as diligent as I should have been about learning the requisite knowledge the class has been taught over the past few weeks. But, then again, in my defense, I have been extremely busy with other projects and midterms. And did I mention I got an 84 on the midterm..?

I do quite like being a student, but in case anyone forgets, it IS actually stressful a lot of the time. And you know, you can't be productive and effective every single day. Sometimes you need time to slack off and veg a bit. It's about balancing and time management. I've been re-discovering the facets of this concept this time around.

Today was Day Three of Java-cram-session-with-Scott (my final is Thursday). And I totally hit a wall. I'm learning graphics - how to create a window (or, "Frame") with various components in it, like buttons and sliders that react and interact in different ways to being clicked. It's an exercise in complication, I've learned. We got to a point where he was asking me to do some fairly basic stuff that I KNOW how to do, but COULD NOT come up with the solution. So despite maybe needing to devote more time to learning, concluding that the absorption point had reached near zero, Scott, CP and I opted instead to go drink beer at the Lion. Yes, this IS a constructive approach on certain occasions.

Cheers to a pitcher of Keith's!  | ¶ 5:57 p.m.

  somebody loves me, by Zeus! I got another care package! Woot!

Somebody was really paying attention, too, 'cause this one is filled with all sorts of goodies that I have mentioned that I need / want. Mugs. A candle. Cold medicine. And then lots of xmas-y treats. Ferrero Rochers. Ovation chocolates. Truffles. Hershey Kisses. And then some standard practical stuff like KD, tuna and gum.

Yay!

Now back to my studying...:(  | ¶ 12:04 p.m.

  IKEA? Since I've been spending so much time with CP lately, I figured it might be time to start learning his native language, especially given his recurrent difficulties with English. This is, of course, a joke; for those who don't know CP, he's the guy running around whipping out words like ubiquitous and temporal in everyday conversation. I keep my dictionary close by.

Last night I asked him to teach me a phrase which I thought would come in handy in times of emergency. You just never know when you're going to be stuck in Sweden trying to express to the locals the very common (and urgent) problem of sore feet.

I now know how to say "my feet are sore" in Swedish. And that's really all a girl needs, don't you think?

Mina foter ere oma, people.

[Petter, you may now correct my spelling. For the record, I pronounced that perfectly as I typed it...!]  | ¶ 11:28 a.m.

  I'm a coder too..! This is how I spent my day today. FIVE HOURS of Java-learnin'.

HUGE thanks to Scott for again taking on the challenge of my non-programmer-brain.  | ¶ 6:18 p.m.

  Dear cupcake,

You missed a good party, though alot of people did because of the crappy weather and icy roads. I still ended up with 9 girls so my livingroom was actually full. I had bought a monster-size bottle of tequila (since in the invitation I said to come early and drink margaritas) but it is only about a quarter gone. I don't think I enjoy the work you have to do to make blender drinks - the ice melts too fast so you would be better off just buying coolers. What the heck am I going to do with all this tequila now??? We'll have to have a margarita (or another drink based around tequila) night when you're back for xmas.

So, we started a little late as people kept trickling in from the treacherous roads. Michelle was the last to arrive since she got lost and was looking for my house on the other side of Bow Trail. We played a "Have you ever...?" game where you throw pennies into a dish in the middle for every Yes answer. The person with the most pennies left is deemed the most-in-need-of-aid and won a small pack of massage oil. Poor Lola didn't much enjoy the night and this was likely her first and last party of this nature. Oh yeah, as the hostess I got a special "pheremone" candle. It smells pretty. The rest of the party was the standard show-and-tell routine and then the discreet opportunity to purchase in the back room. Three girls didn't buy anything, not even shower gel. Oh well. Other people bought...stuff.

Everyone left by midnight except Ameera and Michelle, and the three of us had tea and chatted until around 2. I think everyone had a good time (except for the 2 uncomfortable girls). Two girls booked future parties with the chick so that means I get additional discounts when those parties take place, even without attending.

That's about it. Gotta eat breakfast!

- Frou  | ¶ 11:12 a.m.

  frou: Please give us the report on the sex-toy party. We need some fun reading here...!

[I have given frou guest writing privileges, everyone... She hosted a little par-tay last night.]

I am off to learn / re-learn Java with Scott. Wish me luck.  | ¶ 10:08 a.m.

  things I know CP says:
How's studying going?
cupcake says:
I'm making progress.
cupcake says:
ask me anything about Sophocles' Oedipus the King..!
CP says:
How much wood would Oedipus chuck if Oedipus could chuck wood?
cupcake says:
well, since he got exiled from Thebes, he's probably going to be doing a lot of wood-chucking.
cupcake says:
except, he recently scratched out his own eyes and, well, he's blind now. someone might have to GIVE him the wood before he can chuck it.
CP says:
Hm. Well, that sucks.

[Yes, things are that exciting over here, people...]  | ¶ 6:58 p.m.

  I am DONE classes...! Have you noticed, though, that I haven't exactly been doing the countdown to this day...? It's because, although the end of classes brings a certain relief, I had so many projects to complete over the past month that I wasn't so anxious for time to slip by. Even now, in addition to preparing for my five final exams (three of which are next week...), I have another paper to write for my History class (due Monday). But, this morning, as I lay in bed stressing yet still exhausted, I formulated a very rough study plan.

Out of my first 3 exams (which are one right after another), Computer and History are the more critical to prepare for. I still have a lot of reading to do for Perception, but at least I'm heading into that exam with a good chunk of marks already and a solid feeling for how the exam will be structured, so I'm not so anxious about preparing for that one. So I will be spending the majority of my next several days either in front of a computer doing Java preparation with Scott or CP, and then taking breaks to write and study for History (reading two Plato dialogues mostly).

I'm still pretty worried about my Testing exam, too, but at least I have next Sunday free from exam-writing and can devote an entire 24-hour period to preparing (please refer to exam-schedule link to the right of this writing). And European Politics is at the bottom of the priority list, since it's three whole days after the closest one to it.

Other things I absolutely must do in the next few days:
1. exercise;
2. keep getting enough sleep;
3. spend at least some time doing non-study things to maintain sanity;
4. get out of the house...!
5. hug any cute Swedes that I might run into.
  | ¶ 12:47 p.m.

  Guest Test Is this thing working?  | ¶ 10:55 a.m.

  Ode to the boys who code Tomorrow is “Computer Science Day” here at Bishop’s, an event initiated by some profs and students in the division to promote the department to students and other interested parties on campus. I’ve gotten to know several of the guys involved on some of the projects for tomorrow’s presentations, and it’s rather cool to see them coding their little butts off trying to finish something that is a pretty remarkable display of their abilities.

(See them, coding away...? I've been spying on the webcam.)

(These boys are all wearing pants.)

You see, the administration at our school seems to be almost stuck in the dark ages as far as automated systems for student records, student services, course registration, etc. I’m not sure whose idea it was, but these guys have been working on creating an entirely new online registration system for the past several weeks to demo tomorrow and presumably implement at some point down the road.

It’s quite impressive. I’m the girl who’s all about real world applications for computer stuff, so if it looks good, is user-friendly and is functional, I'm happy. We have a pretty sad excuse for an online registration system currently. It's been interesting to see the amount of thought and effort that goes into a system like this. It also makes you wish they had done this years ago so we could just use something that makes sense!

And that, my friends, is the non-technical, non-geek description of things... Yay, geeks...!  | ¶ 7:12 p.m.

  cooking 101 I did something a little bit stupid last night. I had just completed all the things I had planned for "regrouping and decompressing" day. I watched Cold Case, Desperate Housewives and The Amazing Race; I painted my nails (va-va-voom); I napped (in lieu of exercising).

Then CP stopped by. He figured since he was in my neighborhood (i.e. the Provigo region of Lennoxville), he'd come by to say hello. I insisted that he stay and visit for a bit, and offered to cook the pizza that he'd bought so he could eat dinner. So I heated up the oven, put in the pizza and set the timer.

A short time later, I noticed a sharp burning smell and a small cloud of smoke above my stove. Stupid me. I tend to keep stuff on the two burners that I never use, but I forgot in this case that the oven vents into one of them, and the heat was so intense, that it began to melt my cell phone charger...! And yeah, it's melted just enough that my phone no longer fits into it. Dumb Stacey.

It's not a major hardship really, since I don't use my cellphone in L'ville, and can rarely get a signal anyway - I don't even have my current number memorized. I suppose it might bother me more when I get back to Calgary and the service actually works. Still, not too bright of me.

I'm off to class - the absolute FINAL lecture I must endure by Dr. Stout (History of Psychology, in case you forget). Woot.
  | ¶ 3:46 p.m.